The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced its job creation project to provide seed fundings of up to N100,000 each to 130 farmers each.

The training kick-started at Hadejia Local Government Area of Jigawa State on Wednesday.

NITDA in a statement said that the project, National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA), will be supervised by the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy (FMoCDE).

The training was initiated by the FMoCDE and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

” alt=”” aria-hidden=”true” />The agency has explained that Project NAVSA was initiated in line with the Federal Government’s drive to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

The project, which has started with 130 farmers in Jigawa State, will last until July 13th, 2020.

The agency noted that farmers across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas will be engaged under the programme.

Speaking on the purpose of the project, NITDA said that the project would open a digital platform where key players in the agriculture sector will be able to access important information.

The information would help them upscale their productivity, reduce the cost of production and facilitate access to markets, both locally and internationally, it said.

Farmers would also be provided with smart devices (tablets), connectivity for data and calls, and digital ‘agripreneurship’ skills.

They would also be enrolled with telecom operators and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for identification.

“NAVSA Platform is aimed at digitalising agriculture to drive digital economy as part of President Buhari’s agenda to leverage on technology and innovation to revolutionise the agriculture value chain,” NITDA said in part in the statement.

Beneficiaries farmers are expected to build sustainable and digital business models that will create a minimum of six million well-paying jobs in the next 10 years, NITDA further said.

President Muhammadu Buhari during his Democracy Day Speech on June 12 this year had underscored the role of a digital economy to the country’s development agenda.

“Digital Economy continues to play an important role in our development agenda as we move into the age of Artificial Intelligence,” the commander-in-chief noted.

SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA